Cyprus reunification

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker praised Cyprus yesterday (16 July) for its budding economic recovery after harsh bailout terms saved the eurozone member from meltdown, and urged re-unification of the divided island.

Great Britain is not the only peripheral island with an uncertain relationship with the European Union that faces an important election. In polite company this second island is called North Cyprus, writes Andrew Duff.

If the Cyprus issue is solved, a lot could be done for the Eastern Mediterranean, for Turkish-Greek relations, for new sources of gas for the EU. But the EU unfortunately lacks a visionary perspective, Selim Yenel, Turkey's Ambassador to the EU, told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

The European Union should make Turkey understand that in the 21 st , century gunboat diplomacy has no place, Kornelios Korneliou, Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the EU told EurActiv in an exclusive interview. In October, Turkey sent naval vessels specialising in seismic exploration, into Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone, without permission.

Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades was hospitalised ahead of the first day of the EU summit yesterday (23 October), and was replaced at the summit by Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. This is the first time that a leader from another country replaces a colleague at the EU summit table.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered the Turkish government on Monday to pay €90 million in compensation to Cyprus over human rights abuses committed during and after Turkey's invasion of the island in 1974.

Developments in Turkey over the past year are a cause of concern and put into doubt the country's capacity to fulfill its EU membership obligations, the foreign affairs comittee of the European Parliament concluded yesterday (3 March) in its resolution on the progress of the largest EU candidate country.

EU leaders welcomed today (11 February) the resuming of peace talks in divided Cyprus, in a fresh attempt to end one of Europe's most enduring conflicts and a decades-old obstacle to Turkey's hopes of joining the European Union.

EU leaders welcomed on Tuesday the resuming of peace talks in divided Cyprus, in a fresh attempt to end one of Europe's most enduring conflicts and a decades-old obstacle to Turkey's hopes of joining the European Union.

Leaders of the island's rival Greeks and Turks are due to meet in no-mans-land, at an airport compound in the capital Nicosia that was abandoned in past fighting and is now used as a base for the United Nations peacekeeping force. It will be their first formal encounter for almost 18 months.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed support yesterday (25 February) for opening a new chapter in Turkey’s paralised EU accession talks, but crossed swords with Ankara on the deadlock surrounding divided Cyprus.

Statements by Turkish leaders who say their country will boycott the Cyprus EU presidency are “insulting and provocative” to Cyprus and the EU as a whole, says Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Markoulis.

The Cypriot Ambassador to the EU, Kornelios Korneliou, provided a first insight yesterday (6 June) into the country's ambitions for its EU Presidency period, which begins in July. Meanwhile, Nicosia is readying a bailout request to salvage its banking system, which is heavily exposed to Greek debt.

Turkey would consider annexing northern Cyprus, which is technically EU territory, if talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriots fail to reach a deal on reunification of the island, Turkey's European Affairs Minister Egemen Bağış told a Turkish Cypriot newspaper.

The United Nations yesterday (1 November) called for a summit to be held in January between leaders of ethnically split Cyprus aimed at settling a decades-old conflict that has blocked Turkey's bid to join the EU. Cyprus will hold the rotating EU Presidency in the send half of 2012.